After serving in multiple capacities throughout the week, on Thursday night we would finally get to go to a church service at Angelus Temple. Angelus Temple is the church of the Dreamcenter. It is only a few blocks from the Dreamcenter and most residents make the walk over. Angelus Temple was opened in 1923 and has been in continual operation ever since. It has had its down years but in 2001 Pastor Matthew Barnett took over as head pastor and merged it with the LA Dreamcenter.
Every Thursday night they usually have a guest speaker. This Thursday we were blessed with Pastor Doug Garasic from The Movement Church out of Cleveland, OH. We knew who he was earlier that morning when we were loading the Food Trucks for our outreach and this large man in a black T-Shirt said, “Hey, you know that guy is speaking tonight right?” Pastor Doug quickly responded, “Man, why you always gotta do that?”
Either way, it was cool to get to know him as I worked with him as we unloaded the truck later. We spoke for about an hour and at the end he told me to stop by his table after service and he would give me a copy of his book. Being that I feel more and more everyday being pulled towards the ministry, it was really cool to get to spend a few minutes in a one on one conversation with a pastor.
Later that evening we all made our way over to Angelus Temple. Service started out with some amazing music, just like our church back home. It’s when Pastor Doug began his message I knew I was in trouble. I had kept my emotions in check all week. What the “ladies” didn’t see was me at times holding in my tears after an outreach or something else that may have happened along the way. But as soon as he gave the title to his sermon, “What to do when you don’t know what to do,” I knew I wasn’t going to be able to hold it in.
His message was from James 1:5-7. “But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in his ways.”
His first main point was so profound. He said, “The blessings will come when you don’t seek the blessing, but you seek the blesser.” So often we can pray for things in certain situations, but what if we just praise God. He knows best, He knows what we need.
His sermon had three points. The first point was when you don’t know what to do, ASK GOD!!! It says it right there in the scripture. His second point was that after you ask, BE READY TO LISTEN. The most important part is to listen to God, not ourselves. Often when we ask God something, we already have a pre-determined answer and that’s not good. When you receive that answer, the way you know it is from God is that you believe that ultimately it is God’s will that is being done, and not our own. His third point was ADHERE TO GOD. Don’t let go, don’t get distracted…ask, listen, get in the Word, and hold on for dear life. Growth is painful, but never let go, no matter what.
This is where I went down for the count. He told us to close our eyes, put our heads down. He said if we were being called to something, in a situation we weren’t sure what to do, raise our hand. I raised my hand. He spoke from Ecclesiastes 4:12, ” And if one can overpower him who is alone, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart.” He told us to open our eyes. Hands all over the room were raised. He told us to find people to talk with, to work through things, because its hard to do things alone.
Then he told anyone whom had raised their hand to get down front, we were going to be prayed over. By this time I’d lost it. We started singing Good Good Father, one of my favorites. He told us to raise our hands…..we worship God because we know He is good. And if times are tough we worship God until he is good. As I made it down to the stage, Pastor Matthew Barnett stopped in front of me, held onto my hand and prayed. Pastor Doug eventually came by and prayed. 6 months ago I had no idea what the LA Dreamcenter was, who Pastor Barnett was…..but after this week of serving it was pretty cool to have these men praying over me.
After service I went back to the lobby and met up with Pastor Doug. He gave me his book. We took a picture. I followed him on Instagram and we have communicated since.
As I went to find my team I went back inside the auditorium. My team leader was down front. She told me I needed to go be prayed over by Mona. Mona is an awesome lady. She is the head of their prayer teams at Angelus Temple and every week prays over every seat in the auditorium (all 5300 of them) for Jesus to work in the lives of whomever may sit in that seat. I wasn’t sure about it, but eventually I went to Mona.
The rest I won’t be sharing, but Mona is a very special lady. Somehow she knows things. That’s all I can really say. It was an awesome experience……I’ll leave it at that. But by the reactions of others who came into contact with her, I’m pretty sure she blew their minds and hearts as well.
I ended the night walking back up the aisle to join my team with tears running down my face. What an awesome place. The Dreamcenter……Angelus Temple…..hand in hand are doing God’s work. They are changing lives. It’s an experience I will never forget.
Tetelestai 